Chinese shipbuilder profits surge

China CSSC Holding Ltd., a leading shipbuilder, posted stellar year-on-year profit growth on Saturday for the first quarter (Q1) of this year.

The company's net profits soared by nearly 350 percent in the Jan.-March period to 124 million yuan (around 20 million U.S. dollars), said its latest report filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Its turnover increased 13.32 percent to 6.7 billion yuan.

In a previous report, CSSC planned to boost its revenue to 33.7 billion yuan in 2015 and predicted more than half of the revenue will come from shipbuilding and repairs.

On the stock market, the company remained on a rising streak as it was reported to be mulling a merger with another shipbuilder, China Shipping Industry Co., after the two exchanged executives, although the companies denied such plans.

The company's shares rose slightly on Friday to finish at 54.63 yuan per share.